Etymology

Noun

1. A person or thing's normal mode of operation.
2. A known criminal's established habits and mode of work when committing specific offences, especially fraud, matched with characteristics of an unsolved crime to narrow down (limit to a specific list) or profile suspects.

Quotations

• 2001 — Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, p 92-93

  Failing that, if contact was absolutely necessary, a series of thumb jabs to the nerve cluster at the base of the neck would be his chosen modus operandi—quiet as a whisper.